1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the delivery of true end-to-end application Quality of Service (QoS) over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to techniques for pre-allocating an aggregated end-to-end network reservation protocol session between heterogeneous, multi-vendor environments and thereafter sharing the reservation protocol session among multiple individual application sessions, such as voice, video, and real-time media applications, by multiplexing the multiple individual application flows running across the end-to-end network thereon to achieve desired QoS needs.
2. Description of the Related Art
The consolidation and transfer of voice and voice-band data (e.g., fax and analog modems) with data services over public packet networks, such as the Internet, is rapidly gaining acceptance. However, significant work remains to support the high-availability and tight quality of service (QoS) requirements needed to support voice, video, and real-time content applications over IP networks.
A variety of IP QoS mechanisms are currently available. Some of the more prevalent examples include IP router techniques such as localized queuing and prioritized packet classifications as well as standardized networking protocols such as Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), Differentiated Services (Diffserv), and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS). While these solutions have been heavily marketed as QoS solutions, they have met with poor customer acceptance because they represent, at best, only partial solutions for IP QoS. Even when used in conjunction with one another, there are several major deficiencies with the current approaches.
First, they are static in nature and non-adaptive to real-time network load and delay conditions which have critical effects on application performance such as voice. Additionally, since these solutions typically require a manual and predetermined traffic engineering process to identify optimal network routing and bandwidth, once the design is implemented in the network there is no ability to make intelligent routing and control decisions to compensate for dynamic network behavior.
Second, today's solutions are transport-centric with no awareness of the individual application flows running across the end-to-end network. Thus, since no distinction can be made between packets, such as a voice packet and an ordinary data packet, for example, there is once again no ability to make intelligent routing and control decisions to ensure end-to-end application QoS.
Finally, there are a variety of other deficiencies depending on the mechanism being used. These include “per-router-hop behaviors” with no tightly-coupled, end-to-end QoS integration, high complexity and overhead; and extensive requirements for ongoing traffic engineering and network design as mentioned above.
In summary, today's IP QoS mechanisms and protocols provide a part of the solution to the problem, but have proven to be unworkable in real-world, voice, video and data IP networks.